Du oder ich? Collective Soul. Ethik des Miteinanders
Centenario da erradicação de los Perros y Gatos de Las Grandes Ciudades (100-Year Anniversary of the Extermination of Dogs and Cats in Major Cities)
Kadija de Paula & Chico Togni

Before the official opening of the art project Du oder ich? Collective Soul. Ethik des Miteinanders (You or Me? Collective Soul. Ethics of Togetherness), two different types of flyers were distributed to the people of Melk from June 10 to 15. The first flyer – written in futurist, science-fiction-style language – announced the 100-Year Anniversary of the Extermination of Dogs and Cats in Major Cities (Centenario da erradicação de los Perros y Gatos de Las Grandes Ciudades). The second flyer invited the community of Melk to an opening celebration and performative inauguration of a public barbecue pit constructed by the artists in the form of a sculptural installation. At the center of the performance was the killing, skinning, cleaning, and roasting of a lamb from a regional farm.

In her works, the artist Kadija de Paula likes to combine texts and performances with food as a way of questioning common notions of work, self-organization, economic practices, and the inhumanity of our food industry. Chico Togni builds structures and objects out of found materials to stage events intended to enable us to experience social interaction. Together, the two artists create situations and happenings that question the value of resources and traditional social practices. Previous joint projects include dinners in which they cooked food found in dumpsters as well as projects in which they designed everyday objects out of found materials.